Are there other sources of support I can access by telephone that might be helpful for me to use when the helpline is closed? Expand There are other sources of support that provide listening and understanding, both specifically about self-injury and about other issues please see the list below for suggestions. Alternative Sources of Support The SamaritansHelpline - 116 123 (FREE to call)24/7 support for anyone in distress. ShoutCrisis Text Line (FREE on all major mobile networks) - 8525824/7 support for anyone struggling or in a state of crisis at any time, from anywhere. MIND InfolineInformation about mental health services, treatment and support: 0300 123 3393Open 9am-6pm, Mon-Fri. National Rape CrisisHelpline - 0808 802 9999 (FREE to call)Open 24/7
What if I tell you about someone who is hurting me or someone else? Expand If you have told us who and where you are and you gave us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, we would have to pass that on to the authorities. We will let you know that we would have to do this. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace calls, IP addresses or your location. If you have told us who and where you are and you ask us to report a situation where you are at risk we can do this. However, as we are only open limited hours we are not well set up to make reports - we recommend the agencies below who are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and have processes to do this: Women’s Aid Webchat Service (Mon-Fri 8:00am - 6:00pm, Sat & Sun 10:00am-6:00pm) Refuge National Domestic Violence and Abuse Helpline - 0808 2000 247 (FREE to call) Childline Helpline - 0800 1111 (FREE to call). Help and advice for young people about a wide range of issues. Webchat and email support is also available. The Police 999 (emergency number) or 101 (non-emergency number)
What if I am feeling suicidal? Expand We often speak to people who are feeling suicidal. We can support you and listen to your feelings about not wanting to live. If you have taken something or have injured yourself and you are concerned, we will continue talking to you but might gently encourage you to seek medical help. If you have told us your name and where you are and that you have taken action towards suicide or intend to right away, we may have to contact emergency services for you. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where you are. We hope that if you are still contacting us then a part of you wants to be heard and understood, and we will absolutely listen and support you.
What if I have hurt myself a lot? Do you give medical advice? Expand We are not medically trained and do not give any kind of medical advice. If you have hurt yourself and are worried, we encourage you to seek medical attention by calling an ambulance or going to A&E or other medical support. If you're unsure what to do, you can call 111. They can give you medical support over the phone and advise you on what to do. If you're speaking to us and you've told us who and where you are and we think that what you have done has put you at risk of significant harm or death, we would have to call an ambulance. We understand this might be frightening, but we can continue to support you over text. However, we would have to end a helpline call at this point to speak to emergency services, so we could not continue to support you over the phone. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will never ask for them. We are not able to trace calls, IP addresses or your location. You can find more information on harm minimisation and wound care by following these links: Limiting Damage/Harm Minimisation First Aid Caring for Wounds and Scars
What if I don't want to stop self-harming? Expand We understand that self-harm is a coping strategy for many people who contact us, and we place no expectation on anyone who contacts us to stop using self-harm. We can support you to talk about how self-harm helps you – it's entirely up to you what you talk about with us.
What if I want to stop self-harming? Expand We always offer support around how you feel, but if you are looking to understand your self-injury, learn other coping strategies or ways of trying to stop self-harming we can support you with this too. We won't tell you what to do, but we can discuss your feelings about what you might want to do next and support you to better understand your emotions and experiences. We have lots of experience of working with self-harm and understand it is not easy to stop. We also appreciate that even if you have moved away from self-harm, you may still think about it or have urges to go back to it - we can support you with that too. For further help you could also try looking at our 'How do I stop?' advice and information page.
I don't know if what I do is self-harm. Can I still contact you? Expand Self-harm is experienced differently by everyone and our services are open to anyone who feels we could help them. We don’t ask people to say what they do, and we would never ask anyone to justify contacting us.
What if I get really upset? Expand Lots of people who contact us are distressed and experiencing difficult emotions. You are absolutely welcome to express your emotions openly here, without fear of judgement.
What if I don't know what to say? Expand You don’t have to say anything when you call us – we know that it can be difficult to find the right words, particularly if you're feeling upset or anxious. We will stay on the phone with you whether you speak or not, and understand that making a connection with someone else in silence can be helpful.
Do I have to talk about self-harm? Expand No – we understand that for many people self-harm is a way to cope with life events or very strong feelings, and that it may be useful for you to discuss those things instead. We also appreciate that speaking about self-injury can feel painful or upsetting. We let you lead the conversation and will never pressure you to talk about anything you don't want to. All our volunteers have had specialist training around self-harm and will support you to talk about whatever you feel is useful when you get in touch.
Is it okay to talk about my self-harm? Expand Of course. We understand the issues around self-harm and invite you to talk about it in our confidential, non-judgemental environment. We also know self-injury can be hard to talk about, and some people contact us a number of times before they feel able to discuss self-harm or other sensitive issues. We will absolutely respect and appreciate the pace you choose to speak at and how much you're comfortable to share.
Do I have to tell you my name? Expand No. We do not ask any personal information about you and we do not expect you to give it. We understand that sometimes people not knowing who you are can make it easier to talk about difficult things or about what is going on in your life. If you If you have told us who or where you are and we think that you are at risk of significant harm or death we would have to tell someone what you have told us. The same applies if you have given us information about who or where someone else is and we think this person is at risk of significant harm or death. Please bear in mind that if you give us any information, it stays on our system. That information could be linked together at a later date to find you if we were worried about your safety. As an organisation we share safeguarding concerns across our services. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We cannot trace calls or IP addresses.
What will happen when I call? Expand When you call we will answer ‘Hello, Self Injury Support’ and then give you space to talk. We can give you support for half an hour each time we're open, and will let you know when we are coming to the end of the call. You're very welcome to ask us questions about how the service works and we can give you more information. Our calls are anonymous for both you and the person you speak to, so we don't share names or personal information, but all our volunteers are here to offer you warm, empathetic emotional support.
Who answers the phone? Expand All calls are answered by specially trained volunteers. All volunteers take part in training about self-harm and offering non-judgmental, non-directional support to callers.
Naomi Salisbury - Director Expand I first came to work at Self injury Support in 2013 to run the helpline service. After working in community development and advocacy roles for over 10 years the helpline role brought all of my experience and passion together in one role, as a friend said - if you don't apply I'll apply for you!. In 2017 I became organisational Director. When not at work I can be found wrangling my cats and child, singing in an amazing choir, stewarding at my local repair cafe/produce exchange and then trying to work out what to make with the range of vegetables I acquire there!
Dora Rickford, 'Troubled Inside: Responding to the Mental Health Needs for Women in Prisons' (Prison Reform trust: 2003). Expand A report that draws upon conferences and research to provide insight an recommendations regarding the mental health needs of women in the criminal justice system. Click here for pdf.
Equal Opportunities Expand Our commitment Self Injury Support believes that diversity makes us stronger and better able to support our service users. We are committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce, eliminating unlawful discrimination and creating an environment in which all our employees and service users feel respected for their unique differences and able to give their best. Discrimination and harassment are wholly unethical and have no place in Self Injury Support. The law It is unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of a ‘protected characteristic’. The Equality Act defines the protected characteristics as being age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality, caste and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief, or because someone is married or in a civil partnership. Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful, eg refusing to give a reference for a reason related to one of the protected characteristics. It is also unlawful to discriminate against or harass a member of the public or service user in the provision of services or goods or to fail to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers to using services caused by disability. The duty to make reasonable adjustments includes the removal, adaptation or alteration of physical features, if the physical features make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services. In addition, service providers have an obligation to think ahead and address any barriers that may impede disabled people from accessing a service. Types of unlawful discrimination Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favourably than another because of a protected characteristic. However, discrimination may be lawful if there is an occupational requirement which is core to a job role and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. Indirect discrimination means putting in place, a rule or policy or way of doing things that has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic than someone without one, when this cannot be objectively justified. Harassment is where there is unwanted behaviour related to a protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity) which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or which creates a hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect was intended by the person responsible for the conduct. Associative discrimination is where the individual treated less favourably does not have a protected characteristic but is discriminated against because of their association with someone who does, eg the parent of a disabled child. Perceptive discrimination is where the individual discriminated against or harassed does not have a protected characteristic but they are perceived to have a protected characteristic. Third-party harassment occurs where an employee is harassed by third parties such as service users, due to a protected characteristic. Victimisation is treating someone unfavourably because they have taken some form of action relating to the Equality Act, ie because they have supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. However, an employee is not protected from victimisation if they acted maliciously or made or supported an untrue complaint. Failure to make reasonable adjustments is where a rule or policy or way of doing things has a worse impact on someone with a protected characteristic compared with someone who does not have that protected characteristic and the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments to enable the disabled person to overcome the disadvantage. Service users, suppliers and others We will not discriminate unlawfully against service users using or seeking to use the services we provide. If you are feel you are being discriminated against or you see someone else being discriminated against in using our services, you are asked to contact us using our complaints procedure.
Safeguarding Expand Safeguarding and Confidentiality All of our services and support are confidential unless there is an immediate risk to the person we are supporting or someone else they tell us about and we have information about where they are. If you are using our Listening Services you don’t need to tell us who and where you are and we won’t ask. If you are using our Lived Experience Support Service we will always talk to you first if we need to break confidentiality. We would need to break confidentiality if: we believe you are at risk of significant harm or death from yourself or someone else and we know who and where you are you have given us information about someone else who is at risk of harm and you have told us who and where they are Please bear in mind that if you give us any identifying information about you stays on our system. That information could be linked together at a later date to find you if we were worried about your safety. As an organisation we share safeguarding concerns across our support services. If you have told us who and where you are and you ask us to report a situation where you are at risk we can do this. What will happen if I tell you I am at risk right now, from self-injury or something else that is happening? Listening Services: if you have told us who and where you are and we think self-injury or something else you tell us about has put you at risk of significant harm or death, then we will call 999. We will always tell you that we are contacting emergency services. We understand this might be frightening, but we will support you until we close. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where are. Click here for information on limiting damage and First Aid Lived Experience Support Service: we will support you to access immediate help which might include calling mental health services or emergency services. What if I am feeling suicidal? Lots of people who contact us feel suicidal. We can support you and listen to your feelings about not wanting to live. If you have taken something or have injured yourself and you are concerned we strongly encourage you to contact emergency services. Listening Services: If you have told us your name and where you are and that you have taken action towards suicide or intend to right away, we will contact emergency services for you. We will always tell you that we are contacting emergency services. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where are. We hope that if you are still contacting us then a part of you wants us to listen and we will do that while we are open and give you details of other organisations to contact when we are closed. Lived Experience Support Service: we will support you to access immediate help which might include calling mental health services or emergency services. What if I tell you about someone who is hurting me or someone else, either now or in the past? Listening Services: If you tell us who and where you are and you give us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, now or in the past, we have to pass that onto local safeguarding authorities. We would let you know that we would have to do this. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. We are not able to trace your call or find out where are. Lived Experience Support Service: If you give us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, now or in the past, we have to pass that onto local safeguarding authorities. We would let you know that we would have to do this.
Data Protection and GDPR Expand Self injury Support has created this statement to show our commitment to privacy. The purpose of this statement is to explain how Self injury Support processes your data, whether you are using our services, interested in volunteering or browsing our website. Self injury Support takes appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your data safe. If you have any questions about this privacy statement please contact us at Self injury Support, PO Box 3240, Bristol BS2 2EF. Using our website: What information do we collect? We may collect, store and use these kinds of data: Information about your computer and about your visits and use of this website. You may email us, or use forms on this site to send us personal information such as name and email address. We may use your personal information to: Help run the website, deal with enquiries you have made, send you other communications if you request these. We will not give your personal information to third parties without your permission, unless we are required to do so by law. We may use cookies on the website to keep track of you whilst you navigate the website. We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google may use cookies to store this information. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. (See here for Google’s privacy policy.) Data given to us via web forms on this site may be stored on servers outside the UK, but in Europe. This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. This site contains links to other sites. Self injury Support is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites. If you subscribe to our ebulletin: What information do we have? You can subscribe to our bulletin via the link on our website homepage. You will need to give us your name and email address. You will then be sent a confirmation email and registration for the newsletter will not be completed until you confirm. Your contact data is stored with our third party email service provider, MailChimp (see here for Mailchimp privacy policy.) MailChimp is a web based email service provider that does not use cookies to track our subscribers. Links and images are used to track the opens and clicks for each ebulletin. Should you wish to stop receiving emails from us, you can unsubscribe directly through the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the ebulletin. By clicking this link, you will be automatically unsubscribed from all future emails. If you order our publications. What information do we have? If you order via our online form you can request for us to keep you informed about our organisation by ticking the consent box ‘I would like to be kept informed of any new information and events from Self Injury Support’ We will add you to our electronic databases held by Mailchimp (see above) and you have the opportunity to unsubscribe at any time. If you do not opt-in for us to keep you informed we will hold your details to process your order. We then will then only keep a record of your postcode to comply with statutory requirements and to help to improve the service we provide. If you contact us about volunteering with Self injury Support: What information do we have? Applying to be a volunteer or enquiring about volunteering involves you giving us your personal details. We will use this information to assist you with any queries you might have regarding your volunteering application and to keep track of volunteering applications and enquiries. As part of your volunteering application we ask for information about age, disability, gender, sexuality and ethnicity to help us with equal opportunities monitoring. You are not required to give us this information, but by choosing to do so you consent to the processing of this information by us. If you decide to apply to volunteer with Self injury Support’s helpline or text and email service, we will also ask for information from your referees and the Disclosure and Barring Service. Volunteers for our heritage project, Women Listening to Women, do not need to apply for a DBS certificate. Self injury Support will keep your personal information confidential, unless we are required to disclose it in connection with a police investigation and/or we have reason to believe that you may present a risk of immediate harm to yourself or others. At your request we will provide a reference after a designated period, to be agreed at the start of your volunteering with us. Using our support services: What data do we have? Self injury Support supports women and girls in distress through its support services. The services are available by telephone, SMS, email and Webchat. Helpline: Our service is designed so that volunteers can’t see your telephone number when you contact us. We cannot trace calls however some information is available on our central systems. This can be accessed by staff to ensure that telephone operating systems are working, to record the number of calls received and to help monitor and improve our helpline provision. Text and email: On the TESS system we cannot see and don’t have access to any of your personal information. Instead your messages are given a unique number so that if you contact us again we can see the previous dialogue you’ve had with us. You do not need to tell us any identifying information and we will not ask for it, but if you give us information about you, our safeguarding responsibilities mean it will be kept on file. Information is kept on our central systems and can be accessed by staff to ensure that text and email operating systems are working, to record the number of messages received and to help monitor and improve our text and email provision. To comply with our statutory obligations this data is kept for a specified period of time. Webchat: On Webchat we do not have any information about you other than what you tell us. Each conversation that you have with us is given a code. If you want to, you can use that code to continue the conversation on a different day. You do not need to tell us any identifying information and we will not ask for it, but if you give us information about you, our safeguarding responsibilities mean it will be kept on file. Information is kept on our central systems and can be accessed by staff to ensure our operating systems are working, to record the number of messages received and to help monitor and improve our service. To comply with our statutory obligations this data is kept for a specified period of time. As new volunteers come onto the service, part of their training is to shadow calls, texts or emails to learn from experienced volunteers. If you think this is happening when you contact us and you don’t want it to continue please just ask and we can stop it straight away. Privacy on all our support services: We do not ask any personal information about you and we would never expect you to give it. If you have told us your name and/or your location or we have your name and/or location on record, and we feel that you are in immediate danger of harm from yourself or another individual, we would have to contact emergency services for you. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details and we will not ask for them. If you have told us who and where you are and/or you gave us details of someone who is abusing you or someone else, we would have to pass that onto the authorities. We would let you know that we would have to do this. It is always your choice about whether you tell us your details or those of someone else and we will not ask for them. If you do give us personal information, and we are concerned about you, we may keep information you’ve given us to help us know it’s you when you contact us again. We share this information within Self injury Support across all services to provide you with the best possible support. We’ll never pass any of this information on to any other organisation, except in the following situations: We call the police if during the course of a contact you have told us your name and /or where you are and that you intend to harm yourselves or others right away. You threaten the safety of our volunteers or you compromise the delivery of our service, for example by making it difficult for other people to get through, or by misusing the phone lines or other technology. You provide information that identifies someone who has caused harm or says they are going to cause harm to a child or vulnerable adult. We receive a call about acts of terrorism or bomb warnings. We receive a court order requiring us to share information. If we believe you are misusing our services or are abusive towards the volunteers we may use our system to block your calls or messages from getting through or limit your access to our services. If this happens, a member of Self injury Support’s staff will contact you to explain the reason why we have restricted your access. If you wish to appeal a decision please contact Self injury Support, PO Box 3240, Bristol BS2 2EF [email protected].
Gisela Wrest - Governance Officer Expand Gisela enjoys office work and especially working for charities, apart from the 11 years when she taught skills to work in an office to disadvantaged people. For some years, she volunteered on a programme for people on probation to improve their literacy skills. Outside of work, she loves the cinema, theatre and spending time on her narrowboat.
Accessibility Expand We are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability. We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and in doing so adhere to many of the available standards and guidelines. This website endeavours to conform to level Double-A of the World Wide Web Consortium W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly for all people. This site has been built using code compliant with W3C standards for HTML and CSS. The site displays correctly in current browsers and using standards compliant HTML/CSS code means any future browsers will also display it correctly. Whilst we strive to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. We are continually seeking out solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility. In the meantime should you experience any difficulty in accessing our website, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Where possible use an up-to-date browser By using an up-to-date browser (the program you use to access the internet) you will have access to a much richer set of options to aid you as you navigate your way around this site. The standard browsers we would recommend are below with links to install each of them: Firefox . . . Chrome . . . Safari (MAC only) Once installed, each will bring its own selection of accessibility options and may allow further options via the use of plug-ins. For more details see the Accessibility page for each one: Firefox Chrome Safari (Mac only) Internet Explorer Edge Options in our site Alternative Style Please choose a link below to change the way the site looks. Once set, the site will remain in this style for up to 30 days or until you select a different option. Black on white version White on black version Alternative style Reset to standard style We endeavour to ensure the site looks correct is these different styles but because of the constantly changing nature of the site and its content, this may not always be possible. If you do spot anything which doesn't look quite right, then please let us knowKeyboard Short Cuts / Access Keys Different browsers use different keystrokes to activate access key shortcuts, as shown below: Browser Page Shortcut Windows Firefox or Chrome Home Shift + Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Shift + Alt + 2 Internet Explorer or Edge Home Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Alt + 2 NOTE: For Internet Explorer you will need to press Enter after using the shortcut Safari Home Ctrl + Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Ctrl + Alt + 2 MacOS Safari Home Command + Alt + 1 Skip navigation menu Command + Alt + 2 Firefox or Chrome Home Command + Shift + 1 Skip navigation menu Command + Shift + 2 Options in your browser Most modern browsers all share the most common accessibility tools, here is a list of useful features: Incremental SearchIncremental search allows you to progressively search a web page for a particular word or phrase on a page. To enable this on your browser, press and hold Ctrl/Command and then tap F. This will open a box to type your search into. As you type, the matches will be highlighted on the page for you. Spatial NavigationHitting tab will jump you to each of the items you can interact with on any page. Holding the SHIFT key and then pressing tab will take you to the previous item. Caret Navigation (Internet Explorer and Firefox only)Instead of using a mouse to select text and move around within a webpage, you can use standard navigation keys on your keyboard: Home, End, Page Up, Page Down & the arrow keys. This feature is named after the caret, or cursor, that appears when you edit a document. To turn this feature on, press the F7 key at the top of your keyboard and choose whether to enable the caret on the tab you are viewing or all your tabs. Space barPressing the space bar on a web page will move the page you are viewing down to the next visible part of the page. Text fontsDepending on your browser, you can override all fonts on the site to one that is easier for you to read. Options can be found in your browser's settings/preferences. Change Font in Firefox Change Font in Chrome Change Font in Safari Change Font in Internet Explorer Change Font in Edge Enlarge your viewYou can activate the browser zoom via these keyboard shortcuts Zoom in Firefox Zoom in Chrome Zoom in Safari Zoom in Internet Explorer Zoom in Edge Options on your computer To zoom your entire computer screen Apple Mac and Windows operating system both contain options to enlarge your view of your screen:Windows Apple OS XMake your computer read the site aloudThis website has been built with screen readers in mind. Menus, pictures and inputs will have the correct tags and mark up to compliment your chosen screen reader.We have tested with following tools:NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) is a free screen reader for computers running on the Windows operating system.The latest version can be downloaded for FREE here (on this page you may be asked for a voluntary donation, if you do not wish to donate, click "skip donation this time")WAVE is developed and made available as a free community service by WebAIM. Originally launched in 2001, WAVE has been used to evaluate the accessibility of millions of web pages. Read more hereMicrosoft Windows Narrator is available in most versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems and reads text on the screen aloud and describes events like error messages so you can use your PC without a display. To find out more and how to enable it on your version, please click hereControl your computer with your voiceApple Mac and Windows operating systems both provide ways to control your computer with voice recognition:Windows Apple OS X Third party voice recognition software is available too. In summary We are committed to providing you access to our most valuable resources. If you do spot anything which doesn't look quite right or have any suggestions for how we might improve our services, then please let us know.
Who do you support? Expand We support people of any age and gender who feel a self-injury listening service is right for them. On Monday nights, we’ll be staffed by volunteers of all genders. We understand that many people who’ve contacted us in the past appreciated that we were made up of self-identifying women volunteers, and we felt it was important to preserve this space, so on Thursdays we’ll be staffed by self-identifying women only. However, all genders are welcome to contact us on both nights – we will happily support people of any gender, every time we’re open. If you're not sure if we are the right place for you to seek support, we are really happy to explore this with you, and work out whether we feel like a service that could be helpful to you. If you are worried about a friend or relative who is self-injuring you can get support from us too. We don't give advice, but will give you the time and space to talk about whatever you need.
Self-Harm Information Sheet Expand Pace A useful information sheet offering short term and long term alternatives and solutions to self-harm